SKA.NDERBEG.

corrupted by the Christians into Beg, and joined with
Iskander or Skander, the Turkish form of Alexander,
that Skanderbeg derived the name by which he still
lives in Albanian history. On many a field the
young Bey fought under the standard of the Crescent,
but the tragic death of his father at the hands of the
Turks determined him to become his avenger. At a
critical moment, when the fortune of battle was un-
decided, he deserted to the enemy, proclaimed himself
Prince of Albania, and declared war against the
unbelievers. From that moment he became the
heart and soul of the Christian cause. The national
ballads tell how he slew two thousand Turks with his
own hand ; and when he died, the Sultan exclaimed
with relief that the Christians had " lost their buckler
and the arm which protected them." Stephen
Crnoievic and his two sons, Ivan and George, fought
gallantly by his side, and Mohammed II., the future
conqueror of Constantinople, was routed by the
Montenegrins in a narrow defile and forced to beat
an ignominious retreat into Macedonia Soliman
Pasha, who was sent to ravage the lower Zeta in
revenge for this defeat, succeeded in enticing the
mountaineers into the open, where their army was
almost annihilated. But the siege of Constantinople
provided the Turkish forces with other occupation,
and Montenegro was spared.

Stephen Crnoievic died about 1466, and was buried
in the little monastery on the island of Kom in the
Lake of Skodra, which he had founded. His eldest
son Ivan, surnamed the Black, succeeded him, and
with the new ruler commences a new era in the